Cal To be honest all the messenger apps are under the control of governments. TG might be the only one supposedly not. China monitors WeChat, Whatsapp and Meta (Facebook) work directly with the US government, and yes, MAX is under the control of Russia. And the future is going to be even more controlled everywhere. For me, I'm just using Whatsapp and TG for casual chat with friends so its not a big deal if they want to spy on me. I've had no issues with Whatsapp or TG for the past 3 months inside Russia. Ive never used any other social media.